Four plead guilty to marriage fraud charges in Mobile

MOBILE, Alabama -- Four people pleaded guilty in Mobile last week to marriage fraud charges, becoming the latest to admit guilt in crackdown that has ensnared about a dozen defendants this year.

Those pleading guilty last week included:

David Maurice Smitherman, who admitted that he entered into a sham marriage with Lenka Markova, a citizen of the Czech Republic who was looking for a way to remain in the United States. Markova pleaded guilty to a related charge in September, admitting that she paid Smitherman.

Angela Green, a Baldwin County woman who admitted that she entered into a sham marriage in February with a Brazilian man named Renato Camara after he promised to pay her $8,000.

Jessica Vogelsang, who admitted that she entered into a sham marriage in November 2009 with a Brazilian man named Antonin Matusek, who is living in Orange Beach.

Marina Petru Timus, a Moldovan citizen who admitted that she entered into a sham marriage in 2007 in Pensacola with an American named Brian Condon. Condon, who worked with Timus’ boyfriend at a Gulf Shores Hooters restaurant, pleaded guilty last month.

An attorney for Timus’ boyfriend, Eugeniu Catarev, asked a federal judge last week to dismiss the charges against him on grounds that the government failed to to terminate his conditional permanent resident status before the second anniversary of his gaining that status.

Americans who have pleaded guilty to marriage fraud charges generally have been getting probation, while the punishment for their foreign partners has been deportation.